Stalin dubs dengue deaths a "health emergency" in TN

A day after Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said 35 perons had died due to dengue in the state, Stalin, leader of the opposition in the Assembly, hit out at the ruling AIADMK regime for the situation.

"The government machinery has come to a halt as Chief Minister K Palaniswami is engaging himself only in functions," he alleged in a statement.

This was a reference to a series of functions presided by Palaniswami to commemorate the centenary of former Chief Minister and AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran.

Stalin said that in the interest of the people and in view of the health emergency, the Governor should immediately intervene and order the Chief Secretary to take appropriate action.

He also urged the Governor to direct the top officials to take steps on a "war-footing to halt the everyday deaths due to dengue."

The DMK working chief alleged that the government is crippled without the administrative efficiency to curb dengue.

Claiming that about 10,000 people were affected by dengue, he slammed the Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and the health Secretary for "hiding the number of deaths due to dengue and for lowering the number of people who were affected by fever."

Radhakrishnan had said yesterday that since January this year, 10,032 fever cases were reported in Tamil Nadu. Out of these, 35 people died of dengue.

It may also be recalled that various types of fever cases have been reported from across the State in the recent past.

The government had on October 3 said it has undertaken work on a "war-footing" to address the issue and Rs 13.95 crore has been allocated for mosquito control.

The government had said that among the steps taken to check spread dengue, it was providing 'Nilavembu' (Anti-Pyretic to treat fever) juice across 1,500 medical centres and medical colleges and distributing 2,000 kg of Nilavembu powder among people at Primary Health Centres.